156 Bibliographical Notices. 



science, that the high comparative place which we have reached in the 

 scale of being has been gained step by step by a conscientious study of 

 natui'al phenomena, and by fearlessly teaching the doctrines to which 

 they point. It is by faithfully weighing evidence, without regard to 

 preconceived notions, by earnestly and patiently searching for what is 

 true, not what we msh to be true, that we have attained that dignity which 

 we may in vain hope to claim through the rank of an ideal parentage." 



The nature of fossils of all sorts, from the microscopic siliceous 

 atoms of the lowest plants to the bony remains of Man, their rela- 

 tions to the materials in which they are imbedded, the causes of their 

 burial, and their distribution in agreement with the terraqueous 

 conditions of the earth's surface at any given time, past or present, 

 form matter enough for the always interesting chapters towards the 

 conclusion of the work ; and they have had their share of amend- 

 ment and augmentation. 



In fact, in this elaborate work we have a series of well Avritten 

 and philosophical essays on several branches of natural history, 

 closely related one to another, to the gradual formation of the exist- 

 ing surface of the globe, and to its foregone changes and future mo- 

 difications. This is an exhaustive work, complete, and without a 

 rival. Elegant in style, perspicuous, and far from pretentious, this 

 masterly book is read by many not studying geology as a science ; 

 for it gives a clear account of many natural phenomena in which 

 Man has a deep and common interest. 



Murchison's ' Siluria,' having almost as vride a circulation as the 

 * Principles,' is also well known to geologists, amateur and profes- 

 sional, though it is more technical, and treats specially of certain 

 rock-formations and fossils. The wide extent, however, to which 

 Silurian strata reach in the different quarters of the globe — the 

 fullness and accuracy with which these strata and their fossils are 

 described and delineated — the many elucidations of the bearings 

 that these have theoretically on the philosophy of geology, on one 

 hand, and practically on the structure and capabilities of different 

 hills, plains, and regions, on the other, render this "unrivalled 

 resume of all that is known about the Lower Palaeozoic rocks and 

 fossils, all the world over," indispensable to many and attractive to 

 others. It contains also a comprehensive sketch of the Upper 

 Palaeozoic formations, their history and their relationships, compri- 

 sing valuable notices of the geology of several parts of Britain, Ger- 

 many, &c., where such rocks abound. Moreover the interesting 

 and practically useful subject of gold and its distribution has a very 

 careful and comprehensive chapter devoted to it ; and an essay on 

 geological succession (showing the very gradual out-coming of the 

 higher kinds of animals), and on the intensity of some natural opera- 

 tions in former times, complete this grand work. The improvements 

 in this new edition are very extensive, and are mainly noticed in the 

 author's preface, where, moreover, as also in the text, he takes care 

 to enumerate as far as he can the manifold sources of information 

 and aids to knowledge that his contemporaries have supplied him 



